Another Plate at the Table
by MoneButterfly
Summary: Emily has always wanted to be a mother, but she never thought she would end up with five foster children. Warring: mention of rape, child abuse, self-destructive behavior and eating disorder. *Hiatus*
1. Angela Harris

Another plate at the table

Summary: Emily has always wanted to be a mother, but she never thought she would end up with five foster children. Warring: mention of rape, child abuse, self-destructive behavior and eating disorder.

_July 30__th__ 2010_

"What is going to happen to her now?" Emily asked looking through the window at the little blond girl sitting on a chair next to JJ in the police station's waiting room.

_Angela Harris' parents were the final victims of their unsub, Victor Chappell. He had killed five families before they caught him and the only reason the little girl had survived was because she hid in the cabinet under the sink in her parents' bathroom. That was also where they had found her 2 hours later. The team had arrived at the house just as Chappell ran out the backdoor. Hotch, Rossi and Morgan ran after him while Emily, JJ and Reid ran into the house hoping there was enough time for them to save this family. In the hall they found the father, Michael, dead. He had been shot twice in the chest. They walked further into the house and found the mother, Dana, dead in the living room. She had also been shot twice in the chest just like the other victims had. _

_Emily looked around the living room but there was no sign of the four year old daughter, Angela. They split up to search the house, but all three of them came up empty handed. JJ radioed the others and Reid called for backup and called in the crime scene team. When they arrived the team went back to the police station to interrogate Chappell, but Emily stayed behind. She refused to go anywhere till they found Angela._

_At 10 p.m., Angela was still missing. Emily sighed. It had been two hours. She went up stairs and walked through the master bedroom. She opened the bathroom door and walked slowly up to the sink. She placed her hands on either sides and looked into the mirror staring at the pale face looking back at her._

_Emily was just about to turn on the water when she heard a low sniffle. She looked around the room, but she could not see anyone. Then she heard it again. Emily kneeled down beside the sink cabinet and slowly opened it, and there little Angela Harris was. She was sitting with her legs pressed to her chest and her head buried in her knees. _

_Emily softly touched her shoulder and said in a low voice, "Hi Angela, my name is Emily."_

_Angela looked up at her and whispered, "Is the scary man gone?"_

"_Yes he is gone, it's safe for you to come out neo," Emily said with a small smile._

_Angela shook her head._

"_I know you are scared, sweetie, but I promise you it is safe to go out." _

"_Okay," Angela said with a sniffle and reached out her arms for Emily to take her. Emily grabbed her under her arms and Angela hooked her arms and legs tightly around Emily. _

_Emily quickly ran out to the hall yelling, "I found her! I found Angela, and she is all right."_

_After quickly making sure that Angela was physically fine, Emily and a local officer drove back to the police station with her. Angela sat next to Emily in the back of the car holding her hand tight in her own as if she was afraid that Emily would disappear. Then the car stopped in front of the police station and they walked in hand in hand where JJ let them into a small interrogations room where Hotch were sitting waiting for them. JJ sat down next to him and Emily sat on the other side of the table. Angela crawled onto her lap and laid her little head against Emily's chest as she asked, "Where is my mommy?"_

_Emily stroked her bare arms and kissed her on the head._

"_That is what we are here to talk about, sweetie," JJ said with a small smile._

"_I'm Aaron and this is Jennifer." He leaned forward a little. "We work with Emily and we would like to talk to you about what happened at your house tonight."_

"_I think there was a bad man," Angela answered without looking at him._

"_Did you see the bad man?" JJ asked._

_Angela shook her head. "There were two bangs. They woke me up so I walked out of my room to see what it was." She rubbed her eyes and sniffled. _

"_What happened after that? Did you see anything?" Hotch asked._

"_I heard mommy screaming and then there were two more bangs." She started to sob and Emily wrapped her arms around her. "I got really scared so I ran and hid in the closet. Where is mommy?"_

_Hotch kneeled in front of them and wiped a tear of Angela's cheek. He hated having to tell another child what it was never going to see their mommy again. It had only been seven months since he had this same conversation with Jack, but at least Jack still had one parent left._

_She took his hand in her little one and asked again, "Where is my mommy?"_

"_Do you know what it means when someone dies?" He asked._

_Angela nodded. "When you died you go to live in the sky with the angels. That is what mommy said grandma did." She looked around at the three adults and then tears slowly fall down her cheeks again. "Is that where mommy is now? In the sky?"_

_Hotch lay his hand on her knee, which was covered by the yellow fabric of her night grown. "Yes."_

"_Is daddy there too?"_

"_Yes."_

_Angela pushed Hotch's hand away and slid down from Emily's lap. For a moment she looked around the room confused, but then she crawled under the table. She sat there with her legs pressed to her chest rocking back and forth. The three the adults were all kneeing by the table looking at the little girl. Neither of them really knew what to do. When they tried to touch she would moved away, but then all of the sudden she looked at Emily and asked, "Why would they leave me?"_

_Emily crawled under the table and scooped Angela up in her lap. "They didn't leave you, honey. It was the bad man who took them away from you." She said wrapping her arms around her and slowly stroking the girl's hair as she cried._

"She has no living relatives, so she will be put into foster care till they can find her a more permanent home."

"But what if they don't? Then what will happen to her?" Emily asked as she turned towards Hotch.

Hotch sighed, "Then she will be in foster care till she turns 18."

"That can't happen! I won't let that happen!" Emily said determined. "I want her!"

"Emily, you can't have a four year old child with a job like this."

"You do."

"Yes, but I have Jessica to look after Jack when we are of on cases. You don't have anyone like that."

"Hotch; I don't care if I have to find another job. I just want this little girl!" Emily said turning back to look out the window. Angela was swinging her legs back and forth looking around the police station with heavy eyes. It was one in the morning and Emily knew that Angela most be really tired. Emily sighed, "She has no one, Aaron."

Hotch walked up beside her and placed his hand on her lower back and for a moment they both stood in silence watching the little girl. "I will go talk to Officer Porter and arrange for Angela to go back to the hotel with you now. Then at least she won't have to go to a foster home tonight."

Emily looked up at Hotch. She did not know how to thank him. For a moment she really wanted to hug him, but she did not think he would like that, so she just smiled at him and quickly walked out to Angela.

The little girl jumped down from the chair when she saw Emily and ran to her. Emily lifted her up in her arms and Angela buried her face in Emily's hair and whispered, "Where are we going?"

Emily sighed, "Right now you have to go with me back to the hotel I'm staying at, okay?"

Angela nodded and Emily tightened her hold on her.


	2. When it rains

Another plate at the table

_August 26__th__ 2010_

Emily had taking six weeks off work to get things in order, but it was no way as easy becoming a foster parent as Emily had thought. She got assigned a social worker, who had to approve that she would be fit as a foster parent and she had to go through a 32 hours 'foster parent training program'. Emily had had to leave Angela in Philadelphia and go back to Virginia so she could take care of everything. It had pained her to have to say goodbye to the little girl, but fortunately Philadelphia was only a 3 and half drive away and Emily went to see her as often as she could while everything was being processed.

Emily was in the middle of painting the last wall in what used to be her guest room when the phone rang. She quickly put the lid on the yellow paint bucket and the brush in a glass with now light yellow water before she answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Miss. Prentiss, it is Joanne Walker."

"Hey, how is everything going?" Emily said happily.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news."

"Oh."

"There is big chance that your request will be denied."

Emily took a deep breath trying to keep herself from breaking down. "Why will it be denied?"

"Because of your 10 hours work days and fact that you don't have a husband who can take care of the girl when you have to go away on a case."

"But what about Penelope Garcia? She said she would take care of her when I have to leave."

"A friend is not good enough, I'm sorry."

"I see."

Joanne sighed, "Emily, you have to keep thinking positively. The request hasn't been denied yet and maybe they will change their minds."

"Yeah, thanks." Hanging up the phone Emily turned towards the painting tools sighing heavily. She was not in the mood to finish the last wall instead she went to work not caring to change out of her paint covered clothes. She needed to speak with Hotch.

Hotch was reading through some old case files when there was a knock on the door. "Come in." He looked up and saw Emily walking in closing the door behind her. He smiled a little when he took in her appearance: old light blue jeans and a white t-shirt which both were covered in yellow dots, but his smile quickly faded when he noticed who red her eyes were. "What happened?" He asked concerned.

She wiped a tear of her cheek as she sat down in the chair front of Hotch. "They are going to deny my request to becoming Angela's foster mom."

"I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?"

"No, I just have work less and find a husband who can take care of Angela when I have leave for a case," Emily said giving him a sad smile.

"Working less we can fix, but the husband thing may be tricky," Hotch said in attempt to get her to smile and she did, but it quickly disappeared and was replace by a stream of tears. He got up and sat down in chair next to Emily and placed his hand on top hers which were folded in her lap.

Emily's eyes snapped open when his hands made contacted with hers. She had not expected him to do that, but it was nice. His thumb bushed over the back of her hand. She sighed, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" He asked surprised.

"For crying. I know that it must make you feel very uncomfortable," she said looking up at him.

Hotch gave her a small smile. "You don't have to apologize for crying. It's a natural thing to do when you are sad."

"Thanks," Emily said and got up from the chair. "From now on I will be working fewer hours."

Hotch nodded, "What about the other thing."

She stopped by the door. "Originally Garcia was going to take care of Angela, but apparently she isn't good enough because she isn't family. I guess they don't understand that there is more than one kind of family."

"What about your mother?"

"My mother wouldn't do that."

"Maybe she will surprise you."

Emily got into her car and closed the door. She just sat there for a moment before she dug her phone out of the bag and called her mother.

"Hello?"

"Hey it's me."

"Emily, how are you?"

"I'm fine. I was just wondering if you would like to go out for lunch with me."

Elizabeth paused for a moment before answering, "That would be nice. Where do you want to meet?"

"Let's meet at Café Butterfly in an hour."

"That sounds good. I will see you there then."

"Yeah, bye."

Emily drove home to shower and change her clothes and an hour later she was sitting in the café waiting for her mother to show. Emily almost thought that her mother had stood her up when she walked through the door. She sat down and placed her purse on the chair next to her before looking at Emily. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"What do you mean?"

"Emily, I cannot remember you ever calling me asking me to go out for lunch with you if there was not something specific you wanted to talk to me about. So what is it?"

Emily found her wallet in her bag and took a small photograph out of it and handed it to her mother. She looked at the young girl in the photograph. It had been taking outdoors by a lake and she was sitting on a big rock with her feet in the water holding up her pink summer dress so it would not get wet. Her long blond hair was hold back into two braids and dark brown eyes were squeezed almost completely shot as the sun hit her face.

Elizabeth gave her daughter back the photograph. "She is a beautiful little girl."

"Yes," Emily said with a smile as she looked at the photograph before putting it back in her wallet.

"Who is she?"

"Her name is Angela Harris. Her parents were killed four weeks ago and I have requested to become her foster mom, but…"

"But what?" Elizabeth asked.

"But there is a big change that they are going to deny my requested because I don't have a family member who can take care of her when I'm away on a case," Emily said and looked down at her hands.

"And you would like your father and me to do that?"

Emily nodded.

"We don't know the girl."

Emily shook her hand as she got up and walked out of the café. Elizabeth reached her by her car just as she was about to get in. "Emily!"

"It's okay mother. I knew I shouldn't have asked to do this."

"Emily."

"It's not your responsibility, but you should see this little girl. She is so amazing."

"I never said I won't do it."

"What?" Emily asked confused as she turned to look at her.

"Emily," Elizabeth said walking closer to her. "What I was trying to say before stormed away was that the girl does not know us and may not be comfortable staying at our place, but we will figure something out."

Emily looked at her in surprise and instead of saying anything she threw her arms around her mother and hugged her tightly.

For a moment Elizabeth just stood there in amazement of her daughter's actions. Finally she wrapped her arms around her and said, "If you really want to be this little girl's mom, then I will do anything I can to help you become just that."

"Thank you," Emily said as happy tears slowly fell from her eyes.


	3. Going home

Another plate at the table

_September 4__th__ 2010_

Everything was in order now and the only thing Emily had to do now was wait for the call to come, but when it did panic ran through her body. She was not ready yet. Angela's room was only half finished and she still needed to buy a lot of new clothes for her.

Emily grabbed her phone and hit spied dialed 2. She walked up and down her living room floor waiting for the phone to be answered.

"Jareau"

"JJ, it's me. I'm sorry if I woke you up," Emily said.

"Em, I have an 18 months old son, I have been up for hours."

"Good because I really need your help!" Emily said as she started to walk faster back and forth. "I just got the call, so I'm going to drive to Philadelphia and get Angie now, but her room is nowhere near done and I still have to-"

JJ cut off Emily's nervous rambling. "Slow down and start over."

Emily could a deep breath and sat down on one of the kitchen chairs. "Miss. Walker just called me and said that everything is order now, so I can go bring Angela home today."

"That's amazing," JJ said happily.

"But her room is not ready and I have to buy some clothes for her," Emily said with a sigh.

"Don't worry about any of it. I will make sure everything is ready for when the two of you get home tonight, I promise."

Emily smiled. "I could really hug you right now."

"You can do that when you come home. Now go get your little girl."

"I will do that, and thanks JJ."

"You are welcome. Drive safely."

Emily hung up the phone and ran through her apartment getting everything she need for the trip before getting her jacket and keys and left.

/

After hanging up the phone JJ looked at her watch. It was only a little after 8 which meant it was still too early for her to start calling the others from the team on a Saturday morning, but JJ did not care. There were a lot of things they needed to do, so the first thing she did was to wake Will and then she started calling the others. Rossi, Morgan and Reid had all been quite annoyed with her for calling so early, when they did not even had a case, but that quickly changed after she told them why she was calling. Hotch, like JJ, had been up for some time with Jack, and Garcia had just been really excited and she and JJ decided that they would be handling the shopping and let the men paint and decorate the room. JJ had planned with everybody to meet at Emily's place at 9.30 a.m. so they could get started and hopefully be done before Emily and Angela got home.

JJ, Will and Henry were the first who got to the apartment, which was good since JJ was the only one on the team who had a key to Emily's place.

JJ walked up the stairs with Henry placed on her hip and Will following close behind her. She opened the door to Angela's room and what she saw shocked her a bit. When Emily had said what the room was not finished yet, JJ had thought that it was only a few things that needed to be done, but that was not the case. The walls had been painted yellow and the bed was half built, which meant that they still had to paint white flowers on the walls, put together the bed, dresser, and desk, put up the shelves and curtains and put everything in its right place. JJ sighed. She was glad she had called the others because there was one way that she and Will would be able to get everything ready by themselves.

There was a knock on the front door and then, "Hey JJ, where are you?"

"We are upstairs, Hotch."

Hotch closed the door and him and Jack walked upstairs. Jack ran into the room and hugged JJ's legs before smiling up at her saying, "Good morning, Jenny."

JJ ruffled his hair. "Good morning, sweetie."

Hotch shook hands with Will and gave JJ a quick hug before looking around the room. "We have a lot to do."

JJ nodded.

Ten minutes later everybody was there and they got started. JJ and Reid each grabbed a pattern and started painting the flowers, Garcia worked on the curtains and the others started putting the furniture together while Henry slept in Emily's bedroom and Jack helped where he could.

JJ laid the brush away when her phone started ring. "Jareau"

"Hey, it's me."

"Hi, how is the drive going?" JJ asked with a smile.

"Good. There are still 80 minutes till I'm there."

Morgan whispered, "Emily?"

JJ nodded. "Okay. Well here we are making progress, but there is still a lot to do."

"That's good. Wait… We?"

"Yeah, the team is here helping. And Garcia and I are going shopping later."

"You didn't need to call the others."

"Yes I did," JJ said with a laugh. "There was too much for Will and I to do by ourselves, also they wanted to help."

"Will you thank them for me?"

"You can do it yourself when you get home."

"I have to go now, say hi to the team for me," Emily said.

"Yeah, I will talk to you later. Bye." JJ hung up the phone and turned towards the others. "Em says hi."

"Is she there yet?" Hotch asked as the others turned back to what they were doing.

JJ shook her head. "No not yet."

/

Before Emily got to Philadelphia had she called JJ three more times. First to tell her that there where was money in the kitchen for clothes, toys and other stuff Angela may need. Then to remind her that Angela's favorite colour was yellow and that she did not like clowns. The third time Emily called, she did not even have the chance to say anything before JJ told her to stop calling and that they would be fine. But JJ knew as well as Emily that then only reason that she kept calling was because she of how nervous she was getting.

Emily pulled up in front of Mr. and Mrs. Brown's house. She just sat in the car for some time looking at the house before she got out and rang the doorbell. She nervously twisted her hands together as she waited for someone to open the door.

A moment later, Mrs. Brown opened the door with a smile. "Hi Emily," she said and gave Emily a friendly hug. "Angels is waiting for you in the kitchen."

Emily nodded and walked inside.

"Hey Angie," Emily said with a big smile.

"Yay! You are here!" Angela said happily as she and ran to Emily who lifted her up into her arms. Angela kissed her cheek and hugged her tightly. Then she leant back and looked Emily in the eyes and asked, "Mrs. Brown told me that I'm going home with you today. Is that true?"

Emily's smile grew bigger and she nodded.

Mrs. Brown walked into the kitchen. "Angela, why don't you go up stairs and say goodbye to Patrick and Nora while I talk with Emily?"

Angela nodded as Emily put her down on the ground and then she ran out of the kitchen. Emily and Mrs. Brown sat on each side of the dinner table. She smiled at Emily and said, "Angela has really been looking forward to this day."

Emily smiled shyly. "Yeah me too, but it seems so unreal."

"What?"

"That I'm actually going to take her home with me today. That this is not just a visit like all the others."

"Is that why you are nervous?" Mrs. Brown asked and laid her hand on top of Emily's.

Emily nodded. "I'm taking her home, but what if I'm not good enough? I don't know how to be a mom or how to take care of a traumatized 4 year-old," she said with a low sigh. "What if she doesn't like me as her mother? Should she even call me mommy?"

"Emily, it has been five weeks and she still misses her parents very much, especially her mom. But do you know that? She has accepted what they aren't coming back and that you are her new mommy." She smiled. "And you will be a fantastic mother for this little girl."

"How do you know that?"

"Because you care enough to be nervous about these things."

"Thanks." Emily smiled. "Have you parked her thing yet?"

"Yes everything is ready."

Emily nodded and they both got up and walked upstairs to the children's room. Angela was sitting on the floor with Nora playing with dolls. Nora was 6 years old with shoulder long black hair and emerald green eyes and most importantly, Angela adored her! But that also meant that she was going to miss her terribly. Emily would have to drive Angela back there to visit. She could not bear the thought of Angela losing more people from her that she cared about.

Emily kneeled in front of Angela and ran her hand over her hair. Angela looked up at her with a big smile and then turned to Nora. "I'm going home with my new mommy today."

Emily smiled big. It was the first time Angela had called her mommy in her presence.

Nora sighed, "I know! You have told me that hundred times now already."

Angela giggled.

"Are you ready to go, sweetie?" Emily asked as she poked Angela's nose.

Nora turned and hugged Angela tight for a long time, then she sniffled as let go of the little girl. Emily bent down and kissed the girl on the hand and whispered, "We will come back to visit."

Nora looked up at Emily and said as she dried the tears of her cheeks, "You promise?"

Emily could see the disbelief written all over her face. She had probably seen many children leave with the promise of coming back to visit, but they had never kept that promise. Emily nodded and stroked her cheek. "I promise."

Nora gave her a sad smiled.

Emily grabbed Angela's bags and together they walked out of the house hand in hand waving goodbye to her temporary family.


	4. New friends

Another plat at the table

_September 4__th__ 2010_

On their way home Morgan had called Emily and asked her to bring home some kind of food, because they were all hungry, but also too tired to do it themselves. So Emily and Angela had stopped to buy pizzas, sodas and beers.

Emily got out of the car and considered for a moment how in hell she was going to carry all of the things up to her apartment. But after a couple of tries Emily was able to get all of it in place and lock the car. She swung Angela's bag over her right shoulder and the bag with the beers and sodas over the other and the stack of pizzas in her hands. Angels was carrying her little pink backpack on her back and had her teddy bear in one hand and the other had a tight grip at Emily's pants.

They succeed in reaching the apartment without Emily dropping anything and with the help from Angela they got the front door opened.

"Hello, can someone please help me?" Emily yelled. "And it has to be soon if you guys don't want to eat the pizzas of the floor."

"Don't even joke about it," Morgan said with a laugh as he toke the pizzas from her hands and sat them on the kitchen table.

After placing the bag down on the floor Emily lifted Angela up in her arms and sat her on her hip and then walked over to the fridge to put the beers and sodas away. When she turned back around Emily saw all six of her team members, plus Will, Jack and Henry, looking at her and Angela.

Angela had shyly hidden her face in Emily's hair and whispered in her ear, "Who are all them?"

"They are the people I work with. My family," Emily whispered back.

Angela nodded and turned her head and saw nine smiling faces looking back at her. Emily put her down on the floor and then she slowly walked closer to them, but stopped in front of JJ.

JJ knelt down so she was in eyelevel with Angela and asked with a small smile, "Do you remember me?"

"You gave me your blouse."

"Yes I did. The night you stayed with me and Emily in the hotel I gave you one of my blouses to sleep in."

"It was pink," Angela said with a smile.

"That's right." JJ stroked her cheek and then pointed at Will who was holding Henry. "Do you see that man over there?"

Angela nodded.

"That is Will. He is my boyfriend. And the little boy he is holding, that is our son, Henry. And that man -"

"That is my daddy!" Jack said excitingly cutting JJ off and letting go of Hotch's hand as walked over to her. "His name is Aaron and my name is Jack. That is Uncle Dave. That is Reid. That is Penel… Penelope. And that is Morgan," Jack told her as he pointed at each of the team members. "What is your name?"

"Angela. I'm four."

"Me too, but I will be five soon," Jack said proudly. "You want to play?"

"Sure!"

Jack and Angela were just about to run off to play when Emily stopped them. "Hey honey, don't you want to come see the house and your room?"

Angela nodded and as the others got dinner ready she and Emily went up stairs. They stopped at the end of the hall by a white door with ANGELA writing in big pink letters. Emily opened the door and they slowly walked inside.

Angela's mouth dropped open when she saw the room and Emily's almost did the same. The room was amazing. Everything was white, pink and yellow and the shelves were filled with toys, but what excited Angela the most was the bed.

"A canopy bed!" Angela squealed.

"You like it?" Emily asked with a grin.

"I love it!" She threw her arms around Emily's legs and hugged them. "I love everything, mommy." But as soon as the words left her mouth she let go of Emily's legs and the happy expression left her face and was replaced with a sad one.

"What is wrong, Angie?" Emily asked and kneeled before her.

"Do you think my real mommy will be sad if I also call you mommy?"

"Do you want to call me mommy?" Emily asked instead of answering her question. She did not want Angela to call her mommy or mom if she did not see her as her mother.

"Yes, but not if is makes my old mommy sad."

Emily pulled her into a hug and said, "I think your mommy just wants you to be happy and so do I. So you can call me whatever you want to. Okay?"

Angela nodded. "Kay."

"Good. Then let's go down stairs again and get some pizza and soda."

/

"Jack, we have to get going now." Hotch said. It was 8:30 p.m. and everyone but Hotch and Jack had already left.

"Please daddy, can't we stay a little longer?" Jack asked and both him and Angela gave give Hotch the 'puppy-dog-look'.

"Okay 5 more minutes, but then it is time to go home."

"Yaaay!" both kids screamed and went back to playing and Hotch walked back downstairs to Emily who was sitting on the couch. She turned when she heard Hotch walking towards her.

"Where is Jack? I through you two were going home."

"We are in a minute," Hotch said with a small smile and sat down next to Emily. She gave him a confused look. "Small children can be very cute looking when they want to. Trust me; they can make you do almost anything when they give you that 'puppy-dog-look'."

Emily laughed. "Children are amazing. And now that we are talking about amazing things, guys did an absolutely wonderful job on Angie's room. I would never have been able to make it as beautiful as you did. I'm sorry I made you do it all," Emily said with an apologetically smile.

"There is nothing to be sorry about, we were all happy to help and if she just likes it, then that is all what matters."

"She doesn't just like it, she loves it."

"Good," Hotch said and then asked, "When are you planning on coming back to work?"

"I still have two of the six weeks of left and I think that is enough time to get Angie settled in both here and at a preschool."

"I think that should reasonable. I can give you the number to Jack's school if you like."

"That would be really great," Emily said and then she sighed. "I really miss you guys."

"We miss you too."

As they kept on talking Hotch could not help but think how beautiful she looked when she smiled, but as quickly as the thought appeared in his head, it despair. He should not be thinking about her like that and he knew it. But when had things changes? When did he first start thinking about her like that? He had always known that she was a beautiful woman with her raven hair, dark eyes, long legs and big bright smile, but when did he start seeing her as beautiful instead of just known that she was?

"You have not listened to a single word I have said, have you?"

"Sorry."

"What were you thinking about?" Emily asked, but before Hotch had time to come up with some kind of answer Emily asked, "Is it just me or has it become very quiet?"

Hotch nodded. "It has."

Both adults got up and walked up the stairs and down the hall to Angela's room. Emily opened the door quietly and then they saw both children lying fast asleep on the floor surrounded by toys.

Hotch looked at Emily and sighed. What was he going to do now? If he woke Jack up to take him home he would never be able to get Jack to go back to sleep when they got home, but they could not really stay here, could they?

As if reading his thoughts Emily said, "You can spend the night if you want to. I don't really have a guestroom any more, but Angela's bed is big enough for both kids to sleep in and you can sleep on the couch. But it is only if you want to."

Hotch looked at Jack and then back at Emily. He was not really comfortable with having to spend the night at her place when he had just used the last 15 minutes thinking about how beautiful she looked when she smiled. But then again, having to wake Jack would also be a really bad idea. So he gave her and little smile and said, "That sounds like a good idea."

_A/N – I'm sorry for the lack of update, but so much have been going on with school and exams (I just graduated last month), but now I'm on summer break so I should be able to write a lot more. _


	5. One day at a time

Another plate at the table

* * *

_September 20__th__ 2010_

Being the mother of a traumatized 4 year old was every bit as frightening as Emily had thought.

The first couple of days everything had went well, but then Angela started having nightmares again. Emily had known that there would be a big chance of that happening again after the move. Angela had to get adjusted at the new place. She just needed time to feel completely save in her new home, but when Emily as awakened by the sound of her screaming daughter for the fifth day in a row, she knew she had to do something, both for Angela's sake and for her own.

Emily looked at her alarm clock and saw that it was 4:12 a.m.

She crawled out of bed and walked down the hall to Angela's room. She was tired. It was the seconded timed she was up that night, but it was Angela fourth nightmare. She had already had two before Emily even went to bed herself.

Emily kneeled by Angela's bedside and carefully wiped the tears of her little girl's cheek as she whisper comforting words in her ear, "Angie, I'm right here, wake up."

Angela slowly stopped twisting and turning in the bed and opened her eyes. She launched herself at Emily and broke down crying.

Emily gently scooped her up and sat on the bed with Angela in her lap. Angela just clung to her and cried into Emily's shoulder. She rubbed Angela's back and whispered comforting words in her ear.

When Angela calmed down somewhat and stopped crying she sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Would you like to talk about it, sweetie?" Emily asked softly as she continued to rub her back.

"The bad man won't go away."

"What does the bad man look like?"

"I don't know. I can only see his feet." New tears filled her eyes. "You don't find me. Only the bad man finds me."

"It's alright now," Emily said pulling her into a hug and gently stared to rock back and forth.

After some time Emily stopped rocky and said, "I think it's time to go back to sleep, Angie."

"I don't want to," Angela mumbled with yawn.

"And why is that?" Emily asked as she started rubbing Angela's back again.

"The bad dream will come again," Angela mumbled quietly.

Emily kissed her on the head. "Alright," She said softly as she gathered Angela in her arms and slid off the bed. She walked down the hall back to her own bathroom with Angela in her arms holding her like if she was a baby.

Angela smiled and laid down on the bed, Emily lay down beside her and pulled the comforter over both of them. Angela rolled over and cuddled up to Emily, who gently wrapped her arms around her and Angela closed her eyes and mumbled, "Night mommy."

"Goodnight sweetheart," Emily said softly and kissed Angela's forehead and smiled as her breathing evened out and she fell back to sleep.

/

The next morning went on as any other. Emily got up, showered and dressed in her usually work clothes before waking Angela and getting her some breakfast and then ready for preschool.

Angela had been able to convince Emily to let her wear her pretty, little, dark blue dress with the light blue flowers on it even though Emily did not think it was appropriate for school. But she did not have time for a discussion with Angela, because no matter what she said would end with Angela crying and Emily giving in to make her stop.

Emily grabbed her briefcase and laptop and Angela grabbed her backpack and then they were out the door and on their way. Emily dropped Angela off at school with a kiss goodbye and a big hug. Emily had been able to Angela into the same preschool as Jack, but it had not been possible to get her into the same class as him even though they were almost the same age. Both children had been saddened by this, but they were able to play together at the playground doing breaks and at the after-school centre.

Emily arrived a little after nine. She walked slowly through the glass doors to the office and saw that everyone was there smiling at her. As she walked up to them Emily suddenly realized how much she had missed all of them. When she reached desk area Garcia jumped up from her seat by Morgan's desk and swung her arms around Emily and hugged her tight. "It's so good to have you back!"

"And I'm very happy to be back," Emily said with a laugh and Garcia let go of her.

But as Emily hugged all of them she noticed that Hotch was not there. She could feel the disappointment wash over her, but she did not show it. Emily just kept smiling, but she could not stop thinking about why Hotch had not stopped by to say 'Hi'. It was her first day back and just a few days ago he himself had told her how much all of them missed her.

Emily sighed as she sat down at her desk carefully glancing up towards Hotch's office so nobody would notice, but Rossi did. He placed his hand on her should, which made Emily look up at him.

"Hotch is in a meeting," Rossi said with a knowing smile.

Emily blushed and quickly looked away again. "Okay."

Rossi chuckled as he watched Emily write something down in a case file trying to hide the blush on her cheeks. "Don't worry; he will be back after lunch," he said and walked away with a smile on his lips. When would Emily open her eyes and see that Hotch liked her as much as she liked him?

/

Angela looked out the window for the fifth time in the last 10 minutes. Her little mind had started doubting that Emily was going to come. Jessica had been by an hour earlier to pick up Jack and since then Angela had walked from the front door to the windows to look for Emily before finally settling down by the window farthest to the right. Angela had pulled up a chair to stand on so she would be able to look out.

She sighed and rested her chin on the windowsill.

Angela turned her head with a big smile when she felt a hand on her back thinking it was Emily, but her smile quickly faded. It was not Emily, but her teacher, Laura Corman. She pulled a chair up next to the one Angela was standing on and sat down.

Angela just looked at her for a moment before doing the same and then she asked, "Do you think my mommy is going to come?"

"Of course she is going to come."

She tilted her head to the side. "But what if she has died? Then she can't come."

"Why would you think that?"

"My first mommy died. Maybe my new mommy will too."

Laura looked confused and shocked at Angela, but then the little girl's face lit up and she ran screaming across the room. "Mommy!"

"Hey Baby," Emily said kneeling down and pulling Angela into a tight hug. "How has your day been?"

"Good! Jack and me played on the monkey bar."

"Oh, that sounds like fun," Emily said kissing Angela on the forehead and lifted her up in her arms. Angela wrapped her arms around Emily neck and laid her head on her shoulder.

Laura walked over to them just as Emily was about to grab Angela's backpack. "Excuse me, Miss Prentiss?"

"Yes?" She said with a smile.

"Can I talk with you for a moment?"

"Yes of course." Emily put Angela down. "Can you wait here for a second, honey?"

Angela nodded and then Emily and Laura walked to the other side of the classroom. Emily watched as the young woman nervously twisted her hands. "What did you want to talk about?"

"I know Angela lives with you. That you are her foster mom," Laura glanced at Angela and then looked back at Emily, "but I was wondering what happened to her biological mother."

"Why do you ask?" Emily asked and she could see in Laura's face that her question may have come out a little hard, because Laura started twisting her hands again. Emily sometimes thought that the 25 year old Laura Corman was a bit too young to be a teacher, especially now when she was looking at the nervously looking woman, but then again talking to a FBI agent could be scary.

"Before you came Angela asked me if you were coming to get her or if you were had died like her old mommy."

Emily hesitated for a moment but then said, "Angela's parents were murder almost two months ago."

"Oh my God," Laura said and looked over at the little girl who was sitting at the table happily drawing a picture. "How is she handling things?"

"As can be expected. She has started to have nightmares again, just like she had just after it happened."

"If you like I can find the number for the school psychologist for you," Laura said as she walked over the teacher's desk.

"No, that's okay," Emily said with a smile.

Laura nodded.

Emily turned toward Angela. "Are you ready to go, Ange?"

Angela put the colour pencils away and jumped off the chair. Then she swung her backpack over her shoulder and grabbed her drawing before skipping over to Emily.

"Look mommy!" she said holding up her drawing of a red flower.

"It's very pretty, sweetie." Emily grabbed Angela's hand in hers. "Now say goodbye to Miss Corman."

"Goodbye Miss Corman," Angela said and waved when she and Emily walked out of the classroom. As they walked down the hall Angela looked up at Emily and asked, "Can Jack come to our house and play some time?"

"Yeah sure he can."

"Can his daddy come too?"

"Why would you want him to come too?"

"Because you like him."

_Great,_ Emily thought, _if my four year old daughter knows that I like my boss then everyone else probably dose too._ She sighed. "Yeah, he can come too."


	6. Mommies, daddies and angels

Another plat at the table

* * *

_September 24th, 2010_

The team was call in for a case Tuesday night, and it was with a heavy heart that Emily had woken Angela up and driven her out to her parents' house. Angela had not minded, she liked being at her "grandparents" and she and Emily had been to visit them more times in the last four weeks, then Emily had in the last five years.

All the way from her parents' house and till the BAU Emily had prayed that this case did not involve a kidnapped child or children in any other way – and it hadn't. She had sighed in relief, but had immediately felt guilt. These four women had once been someone's little girl. Throughout the whole case the feeling would not leave Emily alone. Hotch was the only one who noticed the guilt look on her face. So when he was sure everyone else was preoccupied with something Hotch got up from his seat and sat down next to Emily, who was looking out the window at the clouds. She was startled slightly when Hotch sat down bedside her. Somehow she had succeeded in not hearing him come over.

"It's not wrong for you to feel relieved that this was not a case involving children," Hotch said.

Emily looked surprised at him. "How did you know?"

"Because I feel the same way every time we get a case that doesn't involves kids, and I can see the guilt in your eyes." The shade of a smile came upon his lips.

Her cheeks redden a little. "I still feel bad about it."

"That's what makes you human."

Emily nodded and looked at her watch.

"We will be home in time for you to pick Angela up right after school."

Emily sighed and asked with a smile, "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"I could pick Jack up, too," Emily said carefully. She did not know how he would react to her question so she quickly added, "Angela really wants to play with him."

Hotch considered it for a moment and then nodded. "Jack would like that. He has been asking for a play date with Angela ever since they meet for the first time. They seem to like each other," he said with a small smile.

He was smiling at her. The man you would never see smile, was smiling at her. Emily's cheeks reddened further and she felt like a teenager in love. But why was she feeling that way? She was not in love with Hotch. She liked him, but she did not like him, like him. Did she?

Before Emily was able to think about it further Hotch asked, "How are things going with Angela?"

Emily shrugged her shoulders. "As can be expected, I think. She has nightmares and many of them. I have made plans for her to see a psychologist next week." She sighed and then asked, "Did Jack do weird things after Haley died?"

When he did not answer, Emily quickly started to apologize. "I'm sorry. That is not any of my business. It was too personal of a question."

Hotch shook his head. "No it's okay. What do you mean when you say weird?"

"It's just that I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night to find Angie looking at me. She just stands there by my bed and when I ask her what she is doing, she tells me that she is just making sure I'm not death." Emily sighed when she felt her eyes starting burn. "I don't know what to do."

Hotch carefully touch her left arm with the tips of his fingers as looked into her eyes. The tears in them made them glitter. "After Haley died Jack and I went to New York to visit Sean and doing the whole flight Jack wouldn't stop staring out the window, so I asked him what he was looking for and he said, _'I'm looking for mommy, but I can't find her. I thought this is where heaven is?'_ I didn't know how to respond. What would be the right thing to say?"

She nodded. "Nothing ever really seems to be the right thing."

/

When they got back to the BAU, Emily quickly grabbed the files of her desk, and then she was out the door and off to pick up the kids. Hotch had called the school as soon as they got off the plane and told them what Emily was picking Jack up instead of Jessica. He was now in his office and had gotten started on the paperwork involving the case, but he had a hard time concentrating. Hotch kept thinking about Emily. Right now she would be at the school and both Jack and Angela would probably be hugging her.

Hotch sighed and pushed the folder in front of him away and then there was a knock on the door. "Come in."

Rossi walked in and sat down in the chair in front of Hotch's desk. "Is Jessica picking Jack up from school or are you doing it?"

"Actually, Prentiss is doing it."

"Oh," Rossi said with a smile.

"Why are you smiling like that, Dave?"

"No reason," Rossi said trying hard not to let another smile pass his lips. "So why is Emily picking _your_ son up from school?"

"She asked me if she could, because the kids really want to play together."

"So are you and Emily going to eat dinner together tonight? I mean with the children," Rossi asked.

Hotch shook his head. "Where are you going with this, Dave?"

"Nowhere, I'm just happy what you are able to help Emily with Angela," Rossi said and walked to the door. "Don't stay too late."

Hotch nodded.

/

The kids had squealed loudly when Emily told them that Jack was going home with them, so they could play. On the drive home they had both eagerly been tilling Emily all about the things they had done at school, but as soon as they walked through the front door the kids had run up the stairs to Angela's room and Emily had been long forgotten. New they were playing with Angela's dollhouse. Angela was the mommy, the big sister and the baby doll. Jack was the daddy – when he was not at work – and the dog.

After playing for a long time Jack turned to Angela and asked, "I Emily your mommy?"

"Yes," Angela said and moved some blond hair away from her face. Her hair was not in a plait today, but hangs loose down her back. Emily never allowed that, because her long hair would get all tangled up, but that was one of the advantages to staying with Lizzie and grandpa. Angela liked being at their house. It was different from any other house she had ever been to, it was very big and she had gotten her own room.

Jack looked her up and down. "You don't look like Emily."

"That's because I didn't come out of Emily's tummy. She is just my new mommy," Angela said as she laid the dolls back into the dollhouse. Jack did the same and followed her as she rose from the floor and walked over to her nightstand. She took the pictured frame from it and sat down on the bed. Jack sat down next to her and looked at the photograph in her hand.

"If Emily is your new mommy, then is that lady your old mommy?" Jack asked and pointed at the blond woman in the picture. She was holding Angela close to her and a man was kissing her cheek.

Angela nodded. "Yes that my old mommy and daddy."

"Where are they now?"

"A bad man hurt them, so now they are in haven with the angels." Angela sniffled. "I miss them."

Jack put his arm around her. "My mommy is in haven, too. We didn't know George was a bad man, but he was and he hurt my mommy."

"Do you think your mommy and my mommy and daddy is looking at us right now?"

Jack looked up at the ceiling. "Only if they have x-ray vision."

Then they both started laughing and jumped of the bed. Angela put the frame back on the nightstand and laid down on the floor on her back. Jack laid down next to her on his stomach, elbow on the floor and head in his hands. Angela tilted her head to the side and looked at him. "Did you get a new mommy when your old mommy went to haven, like I did?"

Jack shook his head. "No, it's just me and daddy."

"So you have a daddy, but no mommy and I have a mommy, but no daddy."

Jack smiled. "If I can borrow your mommy sometime, you can borrow my daddy."

Angela laughed. "I like that. Now we both have a mommy and a daddy."

/

"Jack your dad is here!" Emily yelled from downstairs as Hotch closed the front door and removed his coat. "You want some coffee?" She asked and walked into the kitchen area.

"Yeah sure," Hotch said and pulled out a chair and sat down by the island. "Have the kids behaved?"

"I haven't actually seen them since we got home. They just kind of ran upstairs to Angela's room and haven't come out since," Emily said with a smile. "But I have heard some laughter coming from her room, so I think they have had a lot of fun."

"That's good," Hotch said just as the kids came running down the stairs.

"Hey daddy!" Jack yelled and crawled into the chair next to him.

"Hi buddy, did you have fun at Aunt Jessie's house?"

"Mm, I did."

"Good," Hotch said and ruffled his hair as Angela walked up to stand in front him. She rocked a little from side to side with a big smile on her lips. "Hi Mr. Jack's daddy, sir."

Smiling Hotch got off the chair and knelt down to Angela's level. "You can just call me Aaron, if you want to."

She looked from Hotch and up at Emily. "Kay, but mommy calls you Hotch. Can she call you Aaron, too?"

Hotch also looked at Emily and saw her cheeks redden for the third time that day. He smiled slightly and Emily's cheeks went light pink to very dark red when their eyes meet over the island.

"Well, can she?" Angela asked again when Hotch did not answer her right away.

Hotch looked back at Angela. She looked liked a little princess as she stood there in white skirt, pretty pink blouse with puff sleeves and a big smile on her lips. "She can if she wants to."

Angela's smile grew bigger. "Okay!"

Hotch stroke her cheek and stood up and turned to Jack, who was still sitting on the high chair by the island. "We better get going now buddy, it almost time for dinner."

Jack tilted his head to the side and asked, "Now that you have just come home from being gone so long, can't we go to McDonald's for dinner?" Before Hotch had time to answer Jack quickly added. "And can Angela and Emily come, too?"

"Do you think they would like to come with us?" Hotch asked seriously.

For a moment you could see doubt fill Jack's face, but then he smiled and leant closer to Hotch and whispered in his ear, "They will come, because they like us."

"How do you know that?" Hotch whispered back.

Jack giggled, "See how they smile."

Hotch could not help but laugh. "If you are sure, then why don't you ask Emily if she and Angela would like to come with us to McDonald's?" Hotch asked. Some part of him wanted Emily to say no. It was not really appropriate for them to go out for dinner together, was it? But then again they were not doing it for themselves; they were doing it for the kids.

Jack turned to look at Emily. "Would you and Angela want to come to McDonald's with us?"

Emily smiled. "We would love to."

"Yaaay!" both kids squealed loudly.

"Go grab your shoes and coats and then let's go," Hotch said and Angela and Jack quickly did as they were told.

/

Hotch and Emily agreed to drive together in Emily's car, because both of the children's car seats were already in it. On the drive down to McDonald's there was an awkward silence between the two adults while the kids were whispering to each other in the backseat.

Angela leant as close to Jack as she could and whispered, "If I can borrow your daddy as my daddy than can I also borrow you as my brother?"

"Only if I can borrow you as my sister," Jack whispered back.

"Deal!" Angela said with a smile.

"With are you two talking about?" Emily asked as she looked at them in the rear-view mirror.

"Nothing," they said simultaneously.

Hotch looked at Emily. "I don't believe them."

"Me either," Emily said as she pulled into the parking lot. They got out of the car and each of the adult grabbed their child's hand. As they walked through the doors Emily felt Hotch free hand on the lower part of her back and she could not stop a smile from appearing on her lips.

"If you go find us a table, than I will get the food," Hotch said.

Emily nodded and she and the kids walked away as Hotch walked up to the counter.

"How can I help you?" The young boy behind the counter asked.

"Two cheeseburger menus and three Happy Meals," Hotch answered. He knew Emily really wanted a Happy Meal and that there was no way in hell that she was going to admit it. But he also ordered a cheeseburger menu for her, because he knew how much she could sometimes eat.

When Hotch had paid for the food he felt someone tuck his pants, so he looked down and saw Angela standing next to him. "Can I please have your change?" Angela begged.

"Yeah sure," Hotch said and handed them to her.

Angela held the change in her small hand for a moment and then she put them into the donation box that was sitting on the counter. "See Mr. Aaron, I just changed the world because I helped out those sick kids," she said with a big smile was on her face. "Just like you and mommy do every day. You change the world!"


	7. Best Friendes

Another plate at the table

* * *

_September 29th, 2010_

Today was the day for Angela's first appointment with the child psychologist, Doctor Elisa Harper. Emily had walked nervously around praying that they would not be called out on a case, because she wanted to bring Angela to her first appointment herself instead of getting her mother or Garcia. Angela was her daughter, her responsibility and considering that Angela's nightmares happened so frequently, Emily hoped Dr. Harper would have some tools for her, so she could help Angela herself to get rid of them.

So Emily picked Angela up from school at noon and together they drove to the small private practice that Hotch had referred them to. Jack was seeing the other child psychologist working at the practice and Hotch only had good things to say about them, and if you asked Jack if he liked it there, then he would tell you that he loved it. There were many toys to play with and Doctor Perlt was nice. So Emily felt comfortable about the place and there was no doubt in her mind that Hotch had not already had Garcia do background checks on all the employees.

Emily and Angela had only just taken a seat in the comfortable couch in the waiting area, when a tall redhead woman walked towards them. "Emily Prentiss?" she asked and reached her hand out. "I'm Dr. Elisa Harper." Emily nodded and got up from the couch and shook hands with her and then Elisa knelt by Angela so they were face to face. "And you must be Angela."

"I am," she said as she lifted her hand up and ran her right index finger over the bridge of Elisa's freckled nose and cheeks. Angela tilted her head to the side and said with a smile, "You are very pretty!"

"Thank you," Elisa said with a small laugh. "You are quite beautiful yourself." Then Elisa got up and gently took Angela's hand in hers. "Are you ready to come with me to my office and talk for a bit while mommy waits out here for you?"

Angela stayed silent and looked nervously up at Emily. She bent down and kissed Angela on the top of her head. "I promise you that I will be right here when you come out, and if you do not like it in there with Dr. Harper, then you just have to tell her and she will take you back to me, okay?"

Angela nodded. "Okay mommy." Then Elisa and Angela walked out of the room and down the hall. Emily sat back down on the couch and got started on some of her paperwork so she would not have to go back to work after Angela's appointment.

"Angela, can you tell me how old you are?" Elisa asked as she closed her office door and sat down beside Angela at the small round table in the middle of the room.

"I'm four," Angela said without looking up from the picture she was drawing.

"Do you know when your birthday is?"

"When there is snow."

"In the winter?" Angela nodded. "Before or after Christmas?"

"After," Angela and reached for the yellow color pencil.

"What do you like the best about your birthday?"

"The presents," Angela giggled. "Can I have the blue?"

Elisa nodded and handed her the blue pencil while asking, "Do you think that is the best about Christmas, too?"

Angela shook her head and said as she kept drawing, "At Christmas I like the Christmas tree best. It's so pretty. We have lights on it and marb… marbles, but mommy says I can't touch them. They can break. We also have some silver thingy that mommy calls angel hair, and when we put it on the tree, Mommy will put some on my head too." Angela stopped drawing, but kept looking down at her picture. Small puddles of water started to fill the bottom of the paper. She crumpled up the paper and threw it on the floor. "Mommy can't do that anymore. Not with me." Angela looked up at Elisa and wiped the tears off of her cheeks. "Do you think mommy and daddy will help Jack's mommy make the Christmas tree in heaven all pretty."

Elisa reached out for the little girl's hand and squeezed it gently. "I'm sure they will and it will be just as pretty as you remember it."

"Do you think my Emily…mommy will put the angel hair on head like mommy do?"

"Well Emily is not the same as your old mommy, so maybe you could put some angel hair on her head and some on your own. Then it's almost the same that you used to do, but not entirely same."

Angela though for a moment and then nodded. "I can to that."

As Angela reached for the red color pencil and started on a new drawing, Elisa asked, "Who is Jack?"

"He is my best friend!" Angela said with a big smile already forgetting the sorrow she had just felt.

"Is Jack's mom in heaven like yours is?"

Angela nodded. "Yes a bad man hurt his mommy and a bad man hurt my mommy and my daddy. But my new mommy makes the bad men go away so they can't hurt mommies and daddies or little girls and little boys or big girls or big boys," Angela explained.

"Okay," Elisa said. "But if Jack is your best friend then you must play together a lot."

"We play every day at school," Angela said as she grabbed the green pencil and started to draw grass on the bottom of the paper, just under the four people. "And sometimes he comes to my house and we play all day."

"What do you like to play?" Elisa asked wanting to know how the two kids expressed themselves.

"Sometimes we play with my doll house, or we play FBI, or we draw, or we play hind and seek. We like that. But mos… mostly we play house. Jack is daddy Aaron and he goes to work. I'm mommy Emily and I'm home. I give baby Jack and baby Angela food and sing songs to them when they sleep."

"Do you sometimes get sad when you play that?"

Angela put the pencil down and looked confused at Elisa. "Sad?"

"Yes sad. Do you get sad when you play this game and then think about your mommy and daddy that are in heaven?" Elisa asked moving a little closer to Angela. Angela considered what Elisa had said for a second and then she shrugged her shoulders and went back to her drawing. After a moment of silence, she put her pencil down again and said. "Jack gets sad when we play, but not so much anymore."

"Why does he get sad?" Elisa asked as she watched Angela pick up the black pencil and started coloring the woman in her picture's hair. Clearly the woman was Emily and the blond girl on her right side was Angela, but the man and boy to their left, Elisa was not a 100% sure who were. Maybe it was Jack and his father. What was his name again? Adam? Allan? Aaron? That is it! His name was Aaron or so assumed Elisa, considering that Jack had played daddy Aaron while Angela was mommy Emily.

"His mommy in heaven," Angela said looking at Elisa like 'isn't that obvious?' and then she went back to finishing her drawing.

Elisa watch as Angela carefully drew flowers on the grass and a sun in the sky between the clouds. She looked over the figures. From the left was the boy in light blue clothes and with brown hair, the man in dark blue with black hair, the woman in red with black hair as well, but hers were long and a bit curly and then was the girl in pink and with long blond hair. They were all holding hands. They looked like a family, like a mother and father with their two children. There was even a small red heart just above the adult figures head.

"Now it's done!" Angela said happily and held the picture up for Elisa to see.

"That's really pretty. Would you mind telling who the people are?"

Angela nodded. "That is Jack. That is Mr. Aaron. That is mommy. And that is me."

'I was right,' Elisa thought and then tilted her head to the side and asked. "Is Mr. Aaron your mommy's boyfriend?"

Angela wrinkled her nose. "No!" Then she giggled. "But mommy's likes him, I think."

"Why do you think that?"

"Mommy smiles much, but she smiles more when we are all together. I like when mommy smiles." Angela looked around the room. "Can I go back to my mommy now?"

/

Emily closed another file wondering when her little girl would be back. An hour had almost gone by since Angela had left with Dr. Harper and seeing that she had did come running back again after 5 minutes, Emily was guessing that things were going great. So she grabbed a new file from her bag and was just about to open it, when she heard a loud bang and then an all too familiarly scream coming from one of the rooms down the hall.

Emily tossed the file on the couch and was up and running down the hall, to the room she had seen Angela and Dr. Harper walk into, in a matter of seconds. She pulled the door open and froze then she saw her little daughter curled up in the corner. Fear was shown on her face and she was gasping violently. She was having a panic attack - a panic attack that had been set off by whatever had made the loud nose.

Dr. Harper walked closer to Angela, but when she touched the little girl's knee she started screaming again. But her shallow breathing made the screams low and shrill.

"Mommy," Angela cried.

Emily quickly snapped out of her frozen state and ran to her daughter lifting her up in her arms and held her tight against chest. "I'm right here baby," Emily said and rubbed her back.

When Angela's breathing came back to normal she said with a sniffle, "The bad man came back. I heard him. I heard the bang. He came to hurt you, mommy. Bad men hurt mommies."

"Ssh, everything is alright. The bad man is never coming back I promise."

"Yes he is! I heard him!" Angela hid her face in Emily's hair.

Dr. Harper knelt by them and laid her hand on Angela's back. "What you heard was not a gunshot; it was just me knocking over a chair."

"I don't believe you!" Angela pressed her eyes shut and covered her ears with her hands.

"Angela, look at me," Dr. Harper said and walked over the chair that had been knocked over earlier, but Angela refused.

"Come on Angie, there is nothing to be afraid of," Emily said and gently moved Angela's hands away from her ears. "Look at Elisa."

Angela did and after a moment Dr. Harper knocked the chair over again. Angela jumped at the noise, but this time she didn't start screaming. She had seen where the sound came from, which made it less frightening. Angela moved away from Emily's lap and over to chair. She picked it up and then knocked it over, hearing the same noise. Then she put her hands on her hips and turned to Dr. Harper. "You shouldn't make the chair do that when I'm here! The bang makes me scared."

"You know, I didn't do it on purpose," she said and picked the chair up once again.

Angela nodded and watched as Emily walked over to her and picked her up from the floor and sat her on her hip. "Are you ready to go home?"

"Yep," she said and put her arms around Emily's neck. They both said goodbye to Dr. Harper and as Emily walked out to the car with Angela on her hip and her bag over her shoulder, Angela asked, "Can we call and hear if Jack can come and play with me when we get home?"

"Not today honey," Emily said and unlocked the car.

"Why not?"

"Because Jack is still in school."

"Can't we pick him up?"

Emily put Angela in her car seat and said, "Not today."

"Please mommy, please!" Angela begged and looked up at Emily with her big, brown eyes.

Emily sighed. She knew this was a fight she was not going to win.

/

Jack had been so excited when Emily told him that he was coming home with them, and the kids had been laughing and singing during the whole car ride back to the apartment. Now Emily sat by the island reading a book while Angela and Jack sat on the couch watching some Scooby Doo movie for the third time since they had gotten home.

When her phone rang she quickly put her book down and answered the phone thinking it would be Hotch calling. "Hi."

"Am I speaking with Emily Prentiss?"

"Oh! Yes you are."

"Hello, my name is Dan Noon from DCS – Child Protective Service. And I'm calling because I can see that you only have one foster child at the moment."

"And I'm only supposed to have one child. Angela is only my foster child till I will be able to adopt her," Emily said and looked over at the small girl, who was giggling over something Jack had done.

"I wasn't aware of that. I'm just calling to hear if you would be able to take another child in."

"I'm sorry, but that won't be possible with the work I do."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure. I'm sorry."

"That's okay. Have a good evening Miss Prentiss."

"You too," Emily said and hung up the phone, but as she did she could not help but feel a little sad over having to said no.


	8. Sick

Another plate at the table

_

* * *

_

_October 15th, 2010_

The team was gathered in the conference room waiting patiently for Emily to arrive. She was late, which was a very uncommon thing for Emily to be. Even now when she also had to take care of Angela, Emily was never late. She would usually be at the office around nine to get to read through some files, so she would be ready for the briefing at ten. But now it was 10:15 a.m. and Emily had not arrived.

"Where the hell is Emily?" Morgan asked loudly just as she appeared in the doorway.

"I'm so sorry I'm late," she said breathless.

The entire team watched her carefully as she quickly ran to the empty seat between Hotch and Garcia and they all noticed the dark circles under her eyes and the fact that she was still slightly out of breath. "Emily, you look like crap."

"Well, you sure know how to charm a girl," Emily said rolling her eyes.

"Do you feel alright?" Rossi asked concerned.

"I'm fine, Dave. Just a little tired." Emily coughed. "Can we please stop talking about me now and start the briefing?"

JJ ignored her request and asked, "Are you sure? You don't look so good."

"Yeah, you are really pale," Reid said.

"I'm always pale, Reid."

"No this is different," Garcia said and reached over and lay the back of her hand against Emily's forehead. "You're a little warm, and is it just me or does her breathing sound a little strange?"

The others nodded.

Emily pushed Garcia's hand away, both embarrassed and slightly annoyed. "It's just a cold or something and I'm breathing this way because instead of waiting for the elevator, I ran up the stairs. So please can we just drop this. I feel fine!"

Hotch nodded. "If Prentiss says she is fine, then she is fine. You can start now, JJ."

JJ looked worriedly at Emily, but started the briefing like Hotch wanted her to and everything went fine. Emily's breathing had become better and she stopped coughing halfway during the briefing.

Afterwards, the team went their separate ways and got started on the paperwork from their last case, but around lunch time Emily's head started to hurt again like it had done most of the night, which was also the reason for why she was so tired. Her headache and cough had made it almost impossible for Emily to fall asleep. So when the others asked her if she wanted to go out a get something to eat, Emily declined. Instead she leant over her desk and closed her eyes hoping to get a little rest before they came back.

Hotch looked out his window and saw that Emily was alone in the bullpen and it looked like she was sleeping. He was concerned about Emily and as the others had already pointed out, she did not look well. So Hotch decided to check up on her making sure that nothing really bad was going on. He walked up to Emily, who was sitting at her desk with her head down on her arms using them as a pillow and sound asleep. As he stood in front of the desk he said, "Prentiss."

When she did not react to the sound of his voice, Hotch walked around the desk. "Emily," he said this time a little more loudly.

"Is she okay?" JJ asked as she walked down the stairs and towards them.

"I don't know," Hotch answered and crouched down next to Emily. As he gently reached down to shake her shoulder, his fingers brushed her cheek. "She's burning up!" he exclaimed.

JJ gasped, "I knew there was something wrong with her." JJ quickly ran to them and knelt on the other side of Emily. "Is she breathing all right? She wasn't breathing right this morning. She was wheezing," JJ asked with panic filling her voice.

Hotch listened closely and sure enough, Emily's breathing was rapid and shallow. "JJ, I need you to help me wake her up." Hotch said as he started nudging the sleeping woman gently and dug his phone out of his pocket.

"What is going on?"

"We need to get her to the hospital. And fast."

/

JJ sat by the hospital bed holding Emily's right hand in hers. As she stroked her hand, JJ let her eyes run over the IV needle that was stuck into the back of Emily's other hand and the slim oxygen tube that had been settled under her nose. It pained JJ to see her friend like this, but she could tell that Emily was getting better.

After being given oxygen in the emergency room the whistle in Emily's breath had disappeared and her breathing had started to sound more normal after the doctor had given her some pain medication. The fever had made her dozy and she had been going in and out of consciousness the entire time she and Hotch had been in the emergency room with her. They won't able to keep her awake for long, but thankfully the doctor had told them it was okay to let her sleep. After the emergency room, Emily had been taking up stairs for a chest X-ray and then shortly after she had been admitted.

From when they arrived till the time Emily was admitted, only about four hours had past, and that made JJ afraid. Of course it was good that they did not have to wait, but it also made JJ realize just how serious things with Emily were. It was not just a bad cold, but a rather acute case of pneumonia. The ER doctor had told JJ and Hotch that after a course of antibiotics and some rest Emily should be perfectly fine.

JJ sighed. It was now almost six and she had been sitting alone in the silent hospital room ever since Hotch had left some time ago to go and pick up Jack and Angela. In reality the room was not silent, because there was a constant beep coming from the machines by Emily's bed.

As JJ ran her thumb over the back of Emily's hand, she suddenly felt Emily's fingers tighten around hers. JJ released her grip on Emily's hand and quickly got up from the chair. "It is okay, Em," she whispered soothingly and gently pushed stray locks of hair behind the Emily's ear.

Emily drew in a deep breath, which made her moan out in pain and open her eyes slowly. Disoriented she looked around the room, but it only took her a second to figure out where she was and then she turned back to look at JJ. "Hi," she said in a low hoarse tone.

"Hey," JJ replied with soft smile. "How are you feeling?"

"Like someone is sitting on my chest." She breathed in slowly and once again looked around the room, but then she noticed it was dark outside. Emily quickly sat up and tried to crawl out of bed, but JJ stopped her. "What are you doing? You have to stay in bed!"

"No, I have to pick Angela up from school," Emily said in panic as the thought of her little daughter alone in school popped into her head. "God, I was supposed to get her hours ago."

"Emily, calm down," JJ said and gently pushed Emily back into the bed, "Hotch is picking her up and bringing her here when you are up for it. Until then she will stay with Hotch, if that's okay with you?"

"I want to see her now."

JJ looked at her watch. "Well it is six now, so they are probably eating dinner now, but what if I go call Hotch and tell him to bring her here when they are done and then you can get a little rest, so you won't be so tired when they come?"

Emily nodded and closed her eyes. "Tell Hotch he can bring Jack too," she mumbled already half asleep.

JJ walked out of the small, white hospital room to call Hotch as she had said she would.

"Hotchner."

"Hey it's me."

"Hi, how is Emily doing?"

"She seems okay. She wants to see Angela as soon as possible."

"Of course."

"I told her that you were probably eating now and that she therefore should get some rest."

"She really should, and if it wasn't because I knew how bad she probably wants to see Angela, then I would wait till tomorrow to bring her by."

"Yeah, I know that you mean. It would be best for her just to sleep, but if it was me I would want to see Henry and explain to him myself why I wasn't coming home."

"That is also Angela's number one question – when is mommy coming to get me?" Hotch sighed. "The kids are almost done with dinner, so we should be at the hospital in about an hour, maybe less. It depends on the traffic to and from Jessica's house."

JJ smiled. "Don't worry about that. Emily told me to tell you, that you can bring Jack too."

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, but then Hotch finally said something. "I think it would be best if it's just Angela. Two little kids will probably be too much for her right now."

"I know it will be too much for her, but Emily knows that Jack would want to stay with you. So ask him if he wants to come."

"Are you telling me what to do? I thought I was the boss of you and not the other way around."

"Sorry Sir."

Hotch smiled. "I will see you later."

"Yeah, see you soon," JJ said and hung up the phone.

/

After Hotch had hung up the phone he walked back into the kitchen where the children were finishing their dinner. Usually when they were together the apartment would be full of laugher and smiley faces, but tonight they were extremely quiet. When Jack talked it was just above a whisper and Angela mostly just nodded or shook her head in response. Hotch sat down on the chair next to Jack and the little boy turned to his father and asked, "Is Emily okay?"

Angela quickly looked up at Hotch with a fearful expression when she heard what Jack had asked.

Hotch nodded at Jack. "Emily is fine." And then he turned to look at Angela with a smile. "Your mommy is going to be just fine." Hotch saw how the little girl's body started to relax and a smile came upon her lips.

"Can she come home?"

"Not yet, but she really wants to see you."

Angela nodded.

"Will she want to see me too?" Jack asked hoping he would be allowed to come with them.

"If you want to come you can, and if you don't then you can stay with Aunt Jessie," Hotch said half hoping he would not want to go with them.

"I want to go with Angie," Jack said and Hotch knew that there was no way to change his mind.

Hotch nodded. "Okay, so you two eat up and then we will go."

Both children smiled and quickly finished what was left of the Mac and cheese on their plates, and then they were out the door and on their way to the hospital. The children became quite quiet during the car ride and as they walked down the halls of the hospital hand in hand neither of them said anything, not even when they reached Emily's room. Hotch pushed the door opened and the children walked in together, still holding hands.

"Hey baby," Emily said with a smile and patted the bed willing Angela to come and sit by her.

But Angela did not move away from her spot next to Jack as she said, "Hi mommy." She looked scared, but Hotch could understand why. Her mother was sitting in a hospital bed surrounded by beeping machines and other scary things, and after all, Angela was just a four and a half year-old little girl and the only thing she knew about hospitals was what Jack had told her. "Did a bad man hurt you?"

"What?" Emily asked with confusion. She thought Hotch had told Angela about her being sick, so why would she think this had anything to do with a bad man?

Angela let go of Jack's hand and walked over to the bed where JJ lifted her up, so she could sit by Emily. Then JJ said goodbye to all of them and left to spend some time with her own little family. "Jack said that his daddy come to a hospital when a bad man hurt him. Did a bad man hurt you too? With a 'bang'?"

Emily shook her head with a smile and then kissed the little girl's forehead. "It wasn't a bad man hurt, I just got sick. You know when you get a cold and cough all the time?" Angela nodded. "It's a little like that, but just worse."

"So you can't come home with me?"

"Not tonight. I have to stay here a little longer."

"Me too?"

"No sorry sweetie. I'm going to call grandma and grandpa so you can stay with them, till I get better."

Angela wrinkled her nose, but then a big smile spread on her lips and she looked at Jack, who was also smiling quite widely. Jack looked from Angela to Hotch. "Daaaadddddyyyy," Jack said like only a small child can say it. "Can Angie come with us home? Please daddy, please," Jack begged and used the 'poppy-dog-look' at his father.

Hotch looked up at Emily when he heard her laugh and saw that Angela was looking at her just like Jack was looking at him. She smiled at him and nodded her head, which meant that it was up to him. He sighed and then smiled. "If you both promise to behave your best then Angela can stay with us."

"Yaaaaay!" Both children squealed and Angela jumped down from the bed and ran to Jack. He hugged her tight and then they started jumping up and down and squealed some more. As the children's laughter filled the room Hotch walked over to Emily and asked, "How are you feeling?"

"Honest?"

"Of course."

"I feel like I have been hit by a car, and I have actually tried that, so I know what I'm talking about." Hotch smiled and Emily laughed, but she quickly stopped and moaned in pain instead.

"Are you okay?" Hotch asked and laid his hands on her shoulders without thinking.

"I'm fine," Emily said trying to take slowly breathes so it would not hurt so much. And as the pain faded away she noticed how close Hotch's face was to hers and his hands on her shoulders. She blushed slightly, but did not move away from his touch. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For volunteering to look after Angela."

Hotch smiled. "Always."


	9. Noah Clark

Another plate at the table

* * *

_October 19th, 2010_

Emily was bored and, in fact, getting a little stir-crazy. It was the middle of her fourth day in the hospital, and if the team had not gotten a case, Hotch would have been by now with Angela and Jack, but unfortunately they had. Hotch had called her late last night to tell her that the team was flying out and he was going to drive down to her parents with Angela.

So today Emily was more bored then she had been the other days, because Hotch and the kids were extremely frequent visitors, though she had a sneaking suspicion that was more Angela's doing than Hotch's. Not because Emily did not think Hotch wanted to visit her, but they were by four or five times a day. Garcia, JJ, Reid and Morgan would stop by at the end of day when they were done in the office and sometimes durng their lunch break, and Rossi had come in a few times late at night with flowers to just sit and talk with her until she started falling asleep. Even her parents had been by a couple of times, and when Emily had told them that Angela was staying with Hotch a big grin had spread on her father's face and he and her mother had looked at each other like they knew something Emily did not.

Even though Emily did not like for her colleagues to see her so sick and weak, she was still grateful for the time she could spend with them. It was nice to be able to talk to someone besides her nurse, Christine, not that Emily did not like talking with her. She was a sweet woman in her early fifties with two children and a granddaughter around Angela's age. And every time Angela and Jack come she would also stop by, clearly enjoying the children visits as well. Emily sighed softly and picked up the remote control and started flipping channels on the television across from her bed. She knew that whatever show she decided to watch now would come as a re-run tomorrow morning, so she just flipped through the channels a couple of times before she settled on some comedy show she had not seen before.

"And how is my favorite patient this afternoon?" a kindly voice asked from the doorway.

Emily smiled when Christine walked into the room and switched off the TV. "Oh, you say that to all your patients."

"I do not," Christine said walking around the bed to check the IV drop and then she gently stuck the tip of the digital thermometer in Emily's left ear.

"Yeah sure," Emily chuckled. "And to answer your question, I'm just fine, but really bored."

"You are fine? So you are not having anymore chest pains?" Christine asked.

"No," Emily replied, but winced in pain as she drew in a breath. Luckily for her the thermometer beeped, so Emily did not think that Christine had noticed anything. "What's the matter?" Emily asked as Christine pulled the thermometer from her ear and laid it back on the medicine cart with a frown.

"Well, your fever is a hundred and one now, which is a bit higher than it was this morning."

"That is not good," Emily said.

"No it's not and so is lying."

"When did I lie?"

"Just before. You told me that you didn't have any chest pains, but I saw the way you cringed when you took a breath in."

"Yeah okay, it may hurt a bit, but I just really want to get out of this bed," Emily said sighing deeply. She had not been allowed to leave the bed in all the time she had been at the hospital nor had she been able to walk. Just walking the short way to the bathroom took Emily's breath right away and she felt like someone was trying to suffocate her by sitting on her chest. Even though her breathing had gotten much better now, the doctor still would not let her leave her bed till her chest pains were completely gone.

"You know you have to stay in bed. It is for your own good."

Emily head dropped and she mumbled softly, "I know."

Christine noticed Emily's saddened expression and tried to cheer her up. "When is that beautiful little daughter of yours coming?" She asked hoping to see a smile on Emily's lips, but the sad look on her face just saddened further.

"She is not coming today. The team got a new case last night, so Hotch had to drive Angela to my parents."

"Can't they just bring her by?"

"There is some big meeting, so they can't make it today, but my mother promised to come tomorrow."

"I'm sorry dear," Christine said and patted her on the arm.

Emily smiled sadly. "Thanks."

Christine gathered the medical supplies on the medicine cart and said goodbye with the promise of stopping by before her shift ended and then she walked out of the room. Emily leant back in the bed and turned the TV on once again and saw that the comedy show was still on. It was actually pretty funny and Emily found herself laughing every now and then.

"I like that show too."

Emily jumped slightly by the sound of the unknown voice and looked towards the door. There she saw a young boy with light brown hair and blue eyes. His back was leant against the doorway and his face and eyes were turned toward the TV screen where the commercials had just started.

"My sister watches, 'How I Meet Your Mother' all the time, but it's only because she has a crush on David Henrie," the boy said as he turned to look at a confused Emily, "the boy who plays Ted Mosby's son in the future."

"Oh okay." Emily nodded her head slowly as the boy walked into the room and up to the plastic chair by her bed.

"Can I sit and watch it with you?" he asked with his hand on the back of the chair.

Emily smiled. "Yes sure."

"Thanks," he said and turned the chair around so it faced towards the TV. "I don't have a TV in my room and the one in the common room is always on The Disney Channel." He sat down and Emily was just about to ask for his name when the commercials ended and the show came back on. So for the next 15 minutes neither of them said anything and the silent was only broken now and then by their laughter.

When the episode ended Emily switched off the TV and turned her attention to the boy. "You didn't tell me you name."

The boy moved the chair around and now sat Indian style on it. "My name is Noah Clark," he said and reached his right hand out for Emily to shank it.

She leant forward and took his hand in hers as she said, "I'm Emily Prentiss."

Noah let go of her hand and placed both his on his knees. "Why are you here?" he asked.

"Because this is my room."

Noah smiled, but his eyes stayed emotionless. "That wasn't what I meant. Why are you at the hospital? What is wrong with you?"

"I have a bad case of pneumonia. It's-"

Emily was just about to explain what it was, but Noah stopped her. "I know what pneumonia is, I'm not stupid."

"Sorry, but not all kids know it. I was just trying to be nice."

"I'm sorry too. I had pneumonia once when I was little. It made my chest hurt."

"That is how I feel. My chest really hurt when I got here, but now it's not so bad," Emily said looking the boy over and then she smiled. "I guess you are here because of the chickenpox."

Noah grinned. "Yeah the adults at the group home didn't want me to infect the other kids, so they dump me here."

"You live in a group home?" Emily asked.

Noah expression now turned completely emotionless and he just nodded his head in answer to her question.

"How long have you been in the system?"

"Since I was five, so that must be about four years now. My mom was young when she had me, and after she kicked my dad out, she had some kind of break down and couldn't take care of me by herself. I don't know if it's true, but that's what she has always told me." Noah shrugged his shoulders.

Emily hesitantly asked, "Why did she kick your dad out?"

"He wasn't a very nice man," Noah said. "He liked to hit her and did it once or twice a week. It started before I was born. Dad always told me that it was my fault that he hit her, but after it was just me and mom, she told me that that wasn't true. That he hit her because he was a bad man and she had been too young and naïve to leave him earlier."

"And you know it really isn't your fault, right?"

Noah nodded. "Mom tells me that every time we are together. She is a good mom, but just not so good at the mom part." He wrinkled his nose. "That doesn't make any sense, dose it?"

"I know what you mean," Emily said with a grin.

"What kind of work do you do?"

"I'm an FBI agent," Emily said proudly.

Noah gasped. "Really? That's so cool!"

Emily laughed and was about to say something in reply when Christine came running into Emily's room very upset. "Emily has a little boy with brown hair come by your room. He has been-" She stopped in the middle of her sentence when she noticed that Noah was sitting on the orange plastic chair looking up at her. "Have you been here all the time?"

"Only since you left and before I was here I was at the baby room."

"You mean the nursery?" Noah nodded. "You have the chickenpox! You can't go into the nursery, the babies might get sick," Christine said slightly panicked.

Noah rolled his eyes. "I didn't go in, I'm not stupid. I just stood outside the room and looked in through the big window."

"Okay, that's good," Christine said calming down again. "But Noah, you can't just leave the children's ward without telling a nurse."

"I know, but if I have asked, would you have allowed me to leave the ward?"

"No, of course not."

"Then why do you think I didn't ask permission to leave?"

Emily laughed. "Smart boy."

"Emily!"

"Sorry," she said to Christine, and then she turned to smile a Noah, who smiled back at her.

Christine sighed and shook her head. "Come on Noah, you have to get back up at the children's ward."

Noah rose from the chair and walked slowly to Christine. He stopped in front of her and asked, "Could I maybe be allowed to come back and visit Emily tomorrow?"

She looked at Emily, who nodded and then said, "Yeah I think we can arrange that."

Noah smiled and turned around to look at Emily with a big smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she said with a small grin and watched as Christine and Noah left her room.


	10. Rabbit

Another plate at the table

* * *

_October 20th, 2010_

"Hi Emily!" She looked up from the book she was reading with a smile and saw Noah standing in the doorway next to a nurse Emily did not recognize, but considering that her scrubs were covered with teddy bears Emily guessed that the nurse worked on the children's ward.

"Hey Noah," she said and put her book away as Noah waved goodbye to the nurse and sat down on the orange plastic chair like yesterday. "Who was that?"

"That's Jamie. She is really nice. She gave me a couple of books after I told her that I didn't have any."

"You like to read?"

Noah nodded. "When I read it's like I'm in another universe and when you are a foster child like me, then it's something you really needs from time to time."

"It's that bad?" Emily asked.

Noah shrugged his shoulders. "I'm in between homes at the moment. I don't like that. I hate group homes, and I hate having to move all the time."

"How many homes have you lived in?"

"Three."

"Why so many?"

"I don't know. No one ever told me why I had to move just that I had to," Noah said with a sniffle and looked down not wanting Emily to see him cry.

"Come sit here," Emily said as she patted the mattress. Noah crawled up on the bed, but was still not looking at her, so Emily asked, "What is your sister's name?"

"What?" Noah looked confused up at her.

"Yesterday you told me that your sister liked to watch 'How I Met Your Mother'."

"Oh, that's Kimmy. She is my foster sister, or she was. I don't have any real siblings."

"Okay." Emily nodded. "How often do you see your mother?"

"She has visitation every Sunday, but it has been quite some time since I last saw her."

"Does she ever say why?" Emily asked, because she could not understand why a woman would not visit her son the only day of the week she was allowed to.

"She says she has to work, but I know that is not the truth." Noah sighed and then said, "Tell me something about what it's like being a FBI agent."

Emily smiled and ruffled his hair. "Well I spend more or less all day catching bad guys, so I work a lot. But when I'm not working I'm with my daughter," Emily said and as if on cue Angela ran into the room followed by Elizabeth Prentiss. Noah quickly jumped down from the bed and sat back down on the chair.

"Hi mommy!" Angela yelled and crawled onto the bed, now sitting in the same place that Noah had just sat in a moment ago. She leant forward and swung her arms around her mother hugging her tight.

"How are you feeling?" Elizabeth asked as she walked to the other side of the bed and kissed Emily on the forehead. Emily was quite surprised by this. A kiss on the forehead was not a thing her mother did often. "I'm doing better. My chest doesn't hurt so badly anymore and I should be able to get out of bed tomorrow and home by the end of the week," Emily said as her mother moved a strand of her hair behind her ear. It made Emily smile. She could not remember her mother being this maternal towards her since she was just a little girl. Maybe being around Angela so much had made the hard and strict Elizabeth Prentiss a bit soft around the edges.

Angela moved so that she now sat with a leg on each side on Emily's lap with her head leant against her chest. "Who is that, mommy?" she said without even talking her thumb out of her mouth.

"That is Noah," Emily said with a smile rubbing Angela's back.

Noah waved at Angela with a shy smile.

"Do you think it is wise having him so close to Angela?" Elizabeth asked and Emily saw how the smile quickly faded from Noah's face. She rolled her eyes and turned to her mother. "It's just the chickenpox, mother."

"And I'm not contagious anymore", Noah quickly added. "I will be leaving the hospital soon."

"Good," Elizabeth said with a nod. "I will go down to the cafeteria now, so you can have a little time alone with your daughter." Elizabeth walked out of the room.

The moment she was out the door Noah jumped down from the chair and followed her lead, but stopped half way to the door when Emily called his name and turned back towards her. "Where are you going?" she asked.

Noah looked confused at her. "But I thought…"

"Do you think Noah should stay in here with us, sweetie?" Emily asked Angela, who just nodded her head and kept sucking on her thumb, so Noah sat back down on the chair and looked at the little girl on Emily's lap. She did not look like Emily. Her hair was blond where Emily's was black and her skin tone was also much darker than Emily's pale one, and their faces where different shapes, so were their noses. They were like opposites, but they still had the same eyes - big, dark and very warm. Noah smiled and then asked, "Angela didn't come from your tummy, did she?"

"No she didn't. I'm her foster mom," Emily said with a smile and rubbed Angela's back.

"But she calls you mommy. I have never called any of my foster parents mom or dad."

"Well, that might be because your parents are still alive. Angie's parents both died a few months ago and I'm all she has now."

"I have Jack too! And Jack's daddy and Grandma Lizzie and Grandpa." Angela was now sitting upright and had removed her thumb from her mouth.

"I know you do, honey," Emily said and kissed her forehead. "But you didn't know them before you came to live with me."

Angela thought for a moment. "Oh yeah!" she said and then crawled down from the bed and walked to the middle of the room. She knelt down and started to half crawl and jumped around the room. And when she saw the confusion on Emily and Noah's faces she burst out laughing. "You have to guess what I am!"

Noah looked at Emily and then down at Angela. "Well I will say that you are crazy."

"Crazy is not an animal! And I'm an animal," she said determined. "We played this game at school today. It was really fun, so now you can guess and then if you get it right it will be your turn." Angela started doing the crawl/jumping thing again and Noah started guessing.

"Are you a grasshopper?"

"No."

"Are you a frog?"

"No."

"Are you a kangaroo?"

"No."

"Are you a bunny?"

"No."

"Then what are you?" Noah asked resignedly with a big sigh.

Angela rose to her feet and placed her hands on her hips. "Can't you see that I'm a rabbit?" she asked annoyed. Emily laughed while Noah just rolled his eyes at her and said, "Bunny is the same thing as Rabbit, so I guessed right which means that it's my turn now!" The children swapped places and Noah was just about to do his animal when the door was opened and Jamie stepped inside the small room. "It's time to get back to your own room now, Noah."

"It has to be now? We are just in the middle of playing a game."

"Sorry sweetie, but you have to get back now."

"Okay." Noah sighed deeply and waved goodbye to Emily and Angela.

"Bye, bye Noah!" the little girl said waving at him with both hands.

Noah turned around with a smile. "Bye, bye Rabbit."


	11. Drawing

Another plate at the table

* * *

_October 21th, 2010_

Emily leant back against the pillow and looked at Christine as she changed the IV bag. "Hey, Christine? You think I can go for a walk or something? My chest and lungs really don't hurt that much and I am going completely stir-crazy. I have started to watch 'Dr. Phil', and I'm starting to like it! You have to help me," Emily said with half a grin.

Christine laughed. "You really are desperate, aren't you?" Emily shrugged her shoulders but then nodded. "Okay, you can go for a walk," Christine said with a smile. "You'll have to bring the IV pole with you, but if you start having trouble breathing or if your chest starts to hurt or even if you start wheezing, then you have to come back here right away and call for me or one of the other nurses."

"And here I was thinking I could make my escape!" Emily said jokingly.

"I'm serious Emily. You'll have to come back right away."

"Okay, I will. I promise," Emily said and prepared herself to stand. Slowly, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and put her feet flat on the floor. The linoleum covered floor felt surprisingly cool against her bare feet and it sent a shiver through her body. "Would it be possible for me to get a pair of slippers?"

"Sure," Christine said and walked out the room. A moment later she came back holding a pair of white hospital-issue slippers. She laid them on the floor next to Emily's feet.

Emily smiled. "Thanks. The floor is quite cold." She slipped her toes into the big, fluffy shoes and began to slowly stand, putting weight on her feet. Her legs felt stiff, but considering how little she had walked during her time at the hospital Emily was glad she was even able to stand by herself, but as she felt her knees buckle under her usually steady body and a wave of dizziness washing over her, her positivity faded. Moaning softly and cursing under her breath, Emily had to sit back down on the edge of the bed.

"You all right?" Christine asked now standing by the bedside gripping Emily's arm.

"Yeah I'm fine. It was just a head rush; I have been lying down for too long."

"Emily, I think it would be best if you wait a couple of more hours to take this walk."

"No, I'm fine," Emily insisted, trying once again to stand and this time she felt no dizziness. "See, I can stand on my own. The dizziness before was just because I have been in the same position for way too long. I really am okay now. I promise a little walk won't hurt me."

Christine was not at all convinced, but on the less she gave in to Emily begging. "You have fifteen minutes."

Emily thought for a moment. Fifteen minutes would not be enough time for her to get where she wanted to go. She would need at least a half hour. "Can't we make it 30 minutes instead?" Emily asked giving Christine her best smile.

"Why would you need more time?" Christine asked instead of answering Emily's question, knowing that there was more to it when just extra time to walk up and down the hallway.

"It's just that I thought it would be fun to go visit Noah in his room, seeing that he has been the one to visit me in my room the other times."

"So I should allow you – who has a bad case of pneumonia – to go to the children's ward where there is a lot of sick children with low immune systems?"

Emily sighed. "Okay, maybe that isn't the best idea then."

Christine saw the slightly disappointed look on Emily's face and said, "If you promise to stay on this floor then you can have your 30 minutes. But if you start feeling-"

Emily cut her off. "Yeah, yeah I know. I will come right back here if start feeling ill." Emily took her first few steps away from the bed and felt her knees shaking slightly, but she was still able to walk and together they walked to the door. Christine let go of Emily's hand. "Are you sure you will be alright?"

Emily rolled her eyes at her. "I will call for you if I'm not," she said and gradually made her way out of the room, dragging the IV pole along beside her. With a small sigh she began walking slowly down the hall and was met by a bright stream of yellow sunlight. It came from the big picture window at the end of the hall. Emily sat down on the window still and leant her head against the frame. With closed eyes she sat there enjoying the feeling of the warm sunlight on her face. She opened her eyes again and smiled. The view outside the window was much more beautiful than the one she had from her own window. Here she was looking at a small park with a pond and trees covered with red leaves instead of a big parking lot with numerous kinds of different cars. Emily wanted to stay there just looking out the window, but she knew that her 30 minutes would be up soon, so if she wanted just a little more time for walking then she would have to do it now.

Emily rose from the window sill and felt once again the dizziness washing over her and then everything happened so fast. Emily did not even notice that she was falling to the ground until she was lying. She heard the IV pole fall down next to her and footsteps running in her direction, but she did not register what was going on around her. Emily felt hands on her and someone forcing her eyes open. A bright light was shone into them, making Emily's vision more blurring than it had been before she fell.

Now that she could not see properly Emily focused on voices around her. She thought she heard Christine talking to her, but she could not separate one voice from the others. They kind of just blurred together and at last Emily did not have the strength to fight off the darkness that was lurking at the edge of her vision. Emily closed her eyes, feeling her body slowly go limp as the voices around her faded away.

/

Noah sat drawing by the low art table in the children's common room, and he was so focused on his drawing, that he did not notice the small girl sitting down next to him. "What's that?"

Noah jumped by the sudden voice so close to him and his hand jerk making the pencil draw a long line over the paper. "It's just a drawing Maya," he said with a sigh and reached for the eraser.

"But why does the girl have bunny ears?" Maya asked leaning closer to the drawing.

"Because I thought it would be fun."

"Is she me?"

"Is your hair blond, Maya?" Noah asked annoyed.

"No, it's red," she said grabbing a few strings of hair and waved it at Noah. "Maybe a little orange, but you know that."

"Then why did you think the girl in my drawing was you?"

"Because you used to make pictures of me," Maya said with a smile.

Noah laid the pencil on the table and looked up at the smiling face of a little girl who used to be his sister. The Helbers' had asked for Maya to be removed from their custody three months before he had been moved. Where Noah did not know the reason behind his move Maya knew only all too well the reason for hers, because it was the same reason all her other foster parents had given – she is too sick for us to handle. And Maya was really sick. She was a sick 7 year-old no one wanted.

Noah grabbed a new piece of paper and the red colored pencil. "How is your heart?"

"It's beating again." She smiled and pointed at the new drawing. "Is that me?"

Noah nodded. "So it's all better for now?" he asked and looked at her chest where the top of her surgical scar was visible. But it was still just a scar; no bandage was on top of it which meant that surgery had not been necessary this time.

"Yeah it's better. I really scared my new mom and dad, but they know what to do. They were good at it." Maya sighed and lay her head on Noah's shoulder. "Do you think that means that they won't send me back?"

"Do they have other kids?"

"They have one. His name is Micky and he is like me. His heart is also working wrongly, so they know what to do if we start feeling bad."

"That's good." Noah laid the colored pencils away and pushed the drawing in front of Maya. "It's all done now."

"That's me," she said with a small laugh as she looked at girl in the drawing with fire-red hair, brown eyes, freckles and a pink dress with a big heart on it in the left side. "It's really pretty."

"Thank you." They both sighed and Noah laid his arm around Maya and his head on top of hers.

"Maya, you have visitors." They looked up and saw Jamie standing next to a man and a woman. They were both smiling.

"Are they your new foster parents?" Noah asked and Maya nodded. "Then I don't think you have to worry. They will keep you forever."

Maya looked at him with a big smile on her face. "You think so?"

"I know so."

Maya hugged him tight, folded the drawing and stuck it in her pocket before she ran off to her parents and disappeared out of the room, both of them holding her hand. Noah turned back to the other drawing he had been working on. It was half done. He quickly finished it and went out to find Jamie. Noah walked up and down the halls of the children's ward looking for her and he finally found her at the reception desk talking on the phone, but she hung up the moment she saw him. "Where have you been? I have been looking everywhere for you?"

Noah looked surprised at her. "I was looking for you. Why were you looking for me?"

"You are being discharge today at noon, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Noah tried to hind the pain he was feeling. He really did not want to go back to the group home. He might not like hospitals all that much, but they were way better then group homes. "But can I go visit Emily before I have to leave? I made her a drawing," he said with a hopeful smile on his lips.

Jamie smiled. "I will call and see if she is up for a little visit."

Noah sat down on the floor with his back pressed against the reception desk listening to the words that were being said and his smile slowly faded away. He brought his knees to his chest and lay his head on top of them. Noah heard Jamie saying goodbye and then the sound of her footsteps coming towards him. She sat down next to him on the floor and laid an arm around him. "I'm sorry sweetie, but you can't go visit her. Earlier this morning she fainted. She hit her head when she fell and she now has a concussion and her fever is back. I'm really sorry, but I promise you that I will give her your drawing."

"Okay," Noah said with a small nod as a single tear ran down his cheek.


	12. Welcome home

Another plate at the table

* * *

_October 23th, 2010_

"Are you ready to go home, princess?" Garcia asked picking Emily's bag up from the bed while sending her a big smile. She nodded and swung her small bag over her shoulder, but she did not return her smile. Emily just walked out of the room next to Garcia quietly and with her head bent. Garcia put her arm around Emily's upper body and gave her a sideways hug and said, "I thought you were happy about going home."

"I am," Emily answered a bit too quickly.

"You seem sad."

She was happy to be going home, but Emily could not stop thinking about Noah. He had been discharged the day she had collapsed and hit her head on the floor giving her a concussion. Emily had been out cold all morning and most of the afternoon, so when she finally came to again, Noah had gone home. She had not been able to say goodbye and now all she had to remember him by was a drawing he had made for her. Jamie had been by her room before her shift had ended and given it to Emily.

"Is something wrong, sweetie?" Garcia asked looking concerted at Emily.

"No everything is fine. Do you know if Angie will be there when I get home? Has Hotch picked her up from my mother's yet?"

"Yes, boss-man has taken care of everything with that little beauty of yours."

Emily smiled. "That's good."

Garcia tightened her hold on Emily and a big grin spread on her face. "Em, is something going on between you and Hotch?"

"What?" Emily asked stunned. "Of course not! Why would you even think that?"

"Well, I don't know, maybe because you and Hotch spends quite a big amount of time together."

"Yeah with two 4 year-old kids as well, and the two 4 year-olds being the key word. Jack and Angela are best friends and they want to play together all the time. If it wasn't for them, then Hotch and I would never spend any time together outside of work," Emily said leaving out the part about her being very happy about the time she got to spend with Hotch. They had become really good friends and he had helped her a lot with Angela.

Garcia looked at Emily as if she did believe her, which was smart of her, considering that Emily was not telling her the whole truth. She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, if you say so."

"You don't believe me?" Emily asked.

"Not even a little bit," Garcia said as the automatic doors opened and they walked into the parking lot and over to Garcia's car. She unlocked it and threw Emily's bag on the backseat while Emily got into the front.

As they drove, Emily looked out the window watching as the world passed by and she once again began to think about Noah. She wondered where in the world he might be and if he was okay. Emily turned to Garcia and asked, "Can you find out where a person lives by only using a name?"

"You know I can. I do it all the time for you guys when you are on a case." She looked at Emily. "Why are you asking anyway?"

Garcia pulled into the underground parking garage of Emily's apartment bulling and found a spot close to the elevator. As the car came to a stop Emily took the drawing from Noah out of her bag. She handed it to Garcia and said, "When I was in the hospital I meat a 9 year-old boy named Noah Clark. He's a foster child who has been moved around quite a lot and at the moment he's in a group home and I would just like to make sure that he's alright."

Garcia smiled. "I will find an address and give it to you tomorrow." She gave Emily the drawing back and then they both got out of the car and headed for the elevator. When they got in Emily could feel her body getting filled with happiness and warmth. Yeah she was glad to be coming home and now she was almost there. She was going to spend the whole day on the couch with her little girl watching Disney movies and eating ice cream. It was going to be great.

They walked from the elevator to Emily's apartment. She unlocked the front door and was met by a very loud and very unexpected 'Welcome home!' She dropped her keys in surprise, frozen and open-mouthed looking at the team. They were all there. Morgan, Reid, JJ, Dave and Hotch. JJ was standing with Henry on her hip and Hotch was holding both Jack and Angela's hands.

"MOMMY!" Angela screamed and ran to Emily. She threw her arms around Emily and hugged her tight. "I missed you, mommy."

Emily unfroze and picked Angela up and kissed her in the cheek. "I missed you too."

As Angela buried her head in the crack of Emily's neck, Emily felt someone pricking her thigh. She looked down and saw Jack standing there looking up at her with a big smile. "I missed you also," he said rocking from side to side.

Emily knelt down placing Angela on the floor before she pulled Jack into a big hug. "And I also missed you, little man," she said and kissed him on the forehead. "Did you take good care of my little girl while I was in the hospital?"

Jack nodded and looked over his shoulder at Hotch. "Daddy helped me."

Emily also looked at Hotch and saw him smiling at her. Her cheeks reddened and she looked back at Jack hiding her face from the others. "So are you going to say hello to the rest of us?" JJ said with a grin.

Emily smiled and quickly got up from the floor, but the sudden movement made Emily's head spin, causing her to stumble a couple steps backwards. Garcia laid her hand on Emily's arm and asked, "Are you okay."

"Yeah I just stood up too fast," Emily said and looked from Garcia's worried face to the others, who were looking just as worried. "I'm fine."

"Maybe you should sit down," Garcia said and guided Emily to the couch and just as she sat down a glass of water was in front of her. Emily took the glass from Morgan's hand and smiled at him. "Thanks."

Everyone still looked worried at her and especially Angela. She sat down next to Emily and concernedly asked, "Mommy, are you going back to the hospital now?"

Emily took a sip of the water and then put the glass down on the coffee table. "No I'm not. I just got a little dizzy, because I stood up too fast." Emily looked around at the others. Holding Hotch's glance she said, "Stop looking so concerned at me. I really am fine." She kept looking at him till he gave her a small nod. "So guys sit down and stop worrying so much." And they did. Emily sighed in relief, but the she said, "Oh, oh! And someone please tell me that you brought something to eat, because I don't think I have anything here besides oatmeal and some way too old milk."

Rossi laughed. "We did bring something and Aaron and I are even going to make you dinner."

"You're the best," Emily said with a grin as Rossi and Hotch walked to her kitchen and started preparing for dinner. Morgan went over to them asking if they would be need any help, but Rossi just told him to move out of the way while he and Hotch cooked. So that was what Morgan did. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down by the island.

Angela jumped down from the couch and walked over to Reid. "Come with me," she said grabbing his hand trying to pull him to his feet.

"Where are we going?" Reid asked as he stood up and looked down at Angela.

"We are going to my room so we can play with my dollhouse!"

"I'm not good at playing with dolls," Reid said and was about to sit down again, but Jack grabbed his other hand and they both started pulling him towards the staircase. "Emily, help me!"

"Oh come on Reid, it's just dolls," Emily said with a grin.

Reid sighed deeply and allowed the kids to pull him up the stairs.

Emily, JJ and Garcia laughed.

"I want Bobba," a little sleepy voice said.

The three women stopped laughing and looked down at the little boy in JJ's lap. Henry was sitting with a leg on each side of JJ's lap and his head facing Emily lay against her chest. "I want Bobba," he said again and rubbed his eyes. JJ was about to get up, but Garcia laid her hand on her knee and said with a smile, "I will go get it." She got up and went over and fished the big, green frog out of JJ's bag and quickly walked back to them handling the stuffed animal to Henry. He pressed it against his chest and closed his eyes. JJ wrapped her arms around him and placed her head on top of his rubbing his back. Garcia did not sit back down next to JJ as before, instead she walked over island and sat in the chair next to Morgan. She took a sip of his beer and laughed at Rossi, who was now covered in flour.

Emily smiled as she saw Hotch shaking his head and laughing lightly.

JJ noticed that Emily was looking past her with a smile on her lips and turned her head in the same direction. She was looking at Hotch. "He looks cute when he smiles, doesn't he?" JJ asked as she turned back to Emily.

"What?" Emily looked confused at her.

"Hotch."

"Oh, yeah I guess so."

JJ laughed quietly so she would not wake Henry and said, "God Em! You are acting like a teenager with a crush."

"I don't have a crush on Hotch!" Emily whispered.

"But you like?"

"Yes, but only as a friend."

"And you like spending time with him?"

Emily shrugged her shoulders. "Yes I like spending time with him. We have done some fun things together with the kids. It's nice."

"So you like 'playing' family with him?" JJ asked looking Emily in the eyes.

"It's nothing like that!" Emily said feeling her cheeks reddening slightly and she had to look away from JJ. "Hotch and I are just friends and nothing more than that."

"Okay," JJ said.

Emily nodded and walked over to the others in the kitchen area. JJ followed her with her eyes and whispered to herself, "I think I'm going to have a little talk with Jack and Angela later." Then she kissed the top of Henry's head and laid him on the couch so she could join the other in the kitchen.


End file.
